Science and TechnologyWritten evidence submitted by Engineering UK

We are delighted to make this submission to your enquiry, which we hope you find useful. We are in wholehearted support of our colleagues at E4E (Engineering for Education) and our submission is intended as a supporting document to their paper. We have specifically answered the questions within your enquiry remit where we have particular expertise.

Does the current engineering skills base meet the needs of employers?

In 2010, the engineering sector generated £1.15 trillion turnover, 25% of all UK turnover—three times the size of the financial services sector. Of the 2.1 million businesses in the UK, 550,000 are engineering businesses employing 5.6 million people—19% of the work force. The demand for skilled engineers and technicians is strong; for example, the Technician Council estimates there will be a demand for 450,000 technicians by 2020.

The industry-leading engineering firms that are part of our Business & Industry panel: Babcock, BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Jaguar Land Rover, Airbus, Centrica, Network Rail, National Grid, United Utilities, BT, TfL, and Atkins among many others lead the world in engineering. The government is aware of their input, but to the wider world, beyond name recognition, there is often little understanding of the breadth of jobs available if the right training and skills are developed.

These companies tell us that the industry is struggling to recruit engineers. McLaren and Microsoft, for example, have both told us recently that electrical engineers are hard to come by. They have to recruit them in from overseas. The industry, which recognises the benefits of a diverse workforce, also reports that diversity in the sector is a major issue, both in terms of female entrants and engineers from ethnic minorities.

Above all there is a strong feeling that the engineering sector needs clarity from the government. It needs a clear industrial policy to be established and a steer about the intended direction of travel. Engineers want to understand exactly what the government expects the economy to look like in 2015, 2020 and 2025. Longer term thinking is critical. The implications of a re-balancing of the economy and growth in GDP are that the £1.15 trillion turnover would need to increase by a double digit percentage over the next five years.

Do employers in the engineering sector prefer an academic or a vocational profile?

Our main challenge to government is to meet the conditions that need to be brought about to bring more young people into the engineering sector—to grow the total pool of potential engineers—and to prevent the flight of engineering graduates to other professions.

Our experience is that more companies are looking for qualified employees than are laying them off. Engineers are being traded around the sector, rather than being recruited from a growing pool.

To crack these challenges the government needs to:

Establish a clear, unequivocal industrial policy—a direction of travel. Industry needs to know what shape the economy will be in and how government intends to deliver growth.

Address the shortage of engineering graduates and apprenticeships across all disciplines to meet the shortfall that is consistently reported across the industry.

Grow the pool of students who are studying Physics (as part of triple science) at GCSE.

Increase the number of students who are studying Physics at A level.

Provide better informed careers information at an earlier age.

Build dialogue between the universities (who want depth of education) and industry (which wants a breadth of knowledge to be taught as well as softer skills, such as teamwork to be taught).

Return to the issue of class based science and technology practicals as a way of locking in the excitement and enthusiasm we see at events like the Big Bang Fair.

Resolution to each (or any) of these challenges would have a significant effect on the number of students who choose an engineering discipline as a degree course. Industry has a major role to play in enticing these graduates into the profession and an A-Level “milk round” where promising students are funded through their degree courses may also support this approach.

Barriers to Progress

There are a lot of barriers in the way of success. Most of them are surmountable and, with the right co-ordination from BIS and the Department for Education, we could put in place a solid pipeline of graduates and apprentices perfectly placed to enter the engineering sector.

The key barriers, identified by our research, are:

Insufficient numbers of students are taking triple science at GCSE level (specifically Physics). Pupils who study triple science are three times more likely to study Physics at A Level; and actively increasing the supply of young people studying A level Physics is the best possible way to improve the number of engineering degree entrants.

Universities constantly push for depth of subject study, but companies are asking for breadth. They also need graduates, and apprentices, to have people skills, communication skills, enthusiasm and the ability to work as part of a team.

Careers information, advice and guidance. This has to improve and should also be targeted at a younger age group so that early interest in science and engineering can be captured and channelled. Our research shows that while primary school children enjoy science and engineering, there is a notable drop-off by Year 8. Enjoyment of a subject is a key determinant in a young person’s decision to pursue that subject further and increased practical activity in classes would help to solidify interest and excitement.

Increasing the number of specialist science teaching staff is critical if children are to reach their potential within STEM subjects and ultimately pursue engineering careers.

The fate of the engineering diploma. In our view this qualification had gained traction in the industry and was proving popular among students. We need to see this replaced urgently and industry will need to be shown that the new qualification is on a stable political platform.

There are also some significant positives emerging from new government policy, but more needs to be done to support these fledgling ideas. Specifically:

We need to build understanding of “Wolf compliant” technical qualifications for 14–16 year olds. The industry supports these qualifications but agrees that they need to be positively promoted into schools and colleges who in turn are given the appropriate support so that they can deliver these essential qualifications.

The University Technical College model is popular in the sector but results need to be monitored to show that they will indeed provide the skilled technical engineers that the sector needs.

DfE and BIS consequently need to ensure that academies and free schools are suitably motivated or incentivised towards supporting the UK engineering and manufacturing agenda.

Use the existing innovation framework as another route into the problem. The Technology Strategy Board has already shown its effectiveness here and Catapult Centres look set to do similar.

Could the Government and others do more to raise the status of technical subjects?

If we were in government and had the power to change things at a fundamental level for engineering we would work to improve the following core areas:

1.Bridge the gap for employers and show younger people that there are significant career opportunities in engineering.

One in five employers (21%) has difficulty finding graduates with STEM skills, and this proportion rises to one in three employers (33%) in the science, engineering and IT sectors. We need to make the case to young people now that there are wide ranging and well-paid jobs to be had in engineering. Enable a tax efficient route for employers to fund retraining for able graduates who want to change career track.

2.Provide an incentivised mechanism to link students into the sector working alongside employers.

Develop a combined university application process that includes both student and employer. Employers could be encouraged to support engineers through their studies and build relationships with students. A student-centred agreement should be created drawn up between student, university and future employer. This agreement would ensure that the student was taught and trained in the best way for the sponsoring company, as well as providing the depth of knowledge required by the university. The same process could work to identify potential apprentices.

3.Help change young people’s (and their influencers’) perceptions of engineering so that they appreciate, understand and aspire to work in the sector. Industry values BIS’s Make it in Great Britain campaign highlighting modern manufacturing but we need a longer term, high level government-backed communications programme, match funded by industry, and delivered by the third sector to show clear commitment.

4.Boost the knowledge of STEM teachers and bring practicals back into the classroom.

Three fifths of the general public view a career in engineering as desirable, seeing it as being a “good profession/career”, “challenging” and “well paid”. However, amazingly, our research shows that 21% of STEM teachers say that a career in engineering is undesirable for their students. This is especially worrying when nine out of ten STEM teachers see providing careers information, advice and guidance as being part of their role, and eight out of 10 answer the pupils questions based on their own knowledge and experience. We have to be able to educate and, crucially, update STEM teachers, with the right careers information to ensure that students are being shown the potential of a career in sector. Extend engineering work experience opportunities to teachers so that they see modern engineering for themselves.

We also have to bottle the enthusiasm of primary school children and carry it deep into secondary schools. This can only be achieved by lesson practicals, enrichment and enhancement activity such as Tomorrow’s Engineers and creative sessions like the Big Bang Fair.

5.Instigate change through procurement processes.

Our feedback from business is that government and business working together could do so much more to support skills development or innovation. Terry Morgan at CrossRail is a great example of an engineering industry leader actively using procurement methods to support skills development with great success.

6.Prioritise tax incentives for R&D for the engineering sector to drive technological innovation. Of the top 25 UK companies by R&D spend; eight are from the manufacturing sector.

The Industry Wish-List

What is clear overall is that industry has a supply problem. There is work out there—there just are not enough graduates and apprentices to fill the places available. That is driving UK companies to look abroad where they are finding out-of-the-box graduates with a positive and enthusiastic attitude.

The UK has these in abundance—a visit to a Big Bang Fair will show you that the potential pipeline is there. Working together we have to keep young people excited and interested in engineering.

June 2012